No Suits, We’re In The Chaupal

n a dingy room in small-town Meerut, 30-year-old Vijay Rana and his team of young MBAs are deeply engrossed in chalking out a marketing strategy to sell LCD monitors and mobile handsets. Their target market is not big-city India but tier-2/tier-3 cities like UP’s Hapur, Saharanpur and Bijnore. There are no flowcharts or AVs to flaunt or PowerPoint presentations. Personal experiences count more in these areas. Similarly, in the villages and small towns lining Pune, Godrej Sara Lee’s Ajay Gandhi sells hair creme and gel to villagers. Five years ago, marketers would have laughed at the thought. Today, robust sales figures have made them believers in this still-being-tapped vein.

‘Rural’ is the new mantra for corporate India as companies across sectors are taking a fresh look at the India that resides in small towns and villages. Buoyed by disposable incomes, which exist in rural areas to a degree that could surprise many market gurus, companies now agree rural is immediate—no longer “the future”. While companies like ITC and HUL have traditionally walked rural roads, many others are now not just talking rural but are tweaking their products to suit the taste and requirements of the aam admi in Sihore, Kadi and Pala.

While the market is big, the rural customer no longer apes his urban cousins. He has a mind of his own and wants value for money. Realising this, companies are not relying on local distributors and retailers to sell their wares this time. Instead, they are burning executive time in the hinterlands as companies send their MBA battalions to the interiors. “Rural markets cannot be done by sitting in the office or with an urban background or just with the IIM experience,” says Vivek Sharma, chief marketing officer, Philips. The company now routinely sends fresh MBAs (mostly from the IIMs, Sharma points out) to the rural areas to study the market as well as take its products there. It’s a learning experience.

Unfortunately, India’s high-profile business schools are yet to factor in the great Indian rural market into their curriculum. But success stories from rural markets could make them think again. Sharma says, “You need to read emotion, empathy and local symbols, which B-schools don’t teach.” While some B-schools have centres for rural management, there are few takers. Prof Kuldeep Sharma of Bimtech, Greater Noida, says, “There are few students who opt for such streams because the money they can earn otherwise is always at the back of their minds.”

The silver lining is that, increasingly, youngsters are ready to brave the dusty tracks and begin their career journey in the “real India”. Outlook met a band of feisty MBAs who have ventured into, and are excelling in, this unfamiliar territory—and in the process setting an example for others to follow.